We turn to Genesis 6:5-8;

5 ‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord .’

When the Lord Jesus comes again it’ll be like the generation of Noah; without anyone knowing like when the flood came. In the last days, we too like Noah must make preparation. When God wanted to destroy the earth, only Noah and his family was safe. His whole family was able to receive this protection. In the new era after the flood, they became the new human race to dwell in the land God had prepared for them. Why was Noah able to be preserved in the generation? V8 tells us;

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord .’

He received this protection from God and he and his household received this salvation from God. How did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord? V9 mentions;

‘This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ‘

This tells us why Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Firstly, he was a just man. Secondly, he was perfect in his generation. Thirdly, he walked with God. These 3 reasons were why Noah could receive this grace from God and be saved. Similarly, if we meet these same conditions, we too will find grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Let us set these as our targets:

Noah was a just man

He was someone upright and just. To be able to be a just man before God means that he’s able to meet the requirements God has set. In Genesis 7:1;

‘Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. ‘

God wanted to preserve Noah and his whole household because God saw that Noah was righteous. God saw that Noah was justified and was upright. What actions did Noah display that God could see he was a righteous man?

Since our forefathers sinned, sin entered the world. Hence, no one is righteous; everyone is with sin. How could Noah then be righteous before God? A crux to this is that Noah knows how to make altars to worship God.

In Genesis 8:20 records of them exiting the ark after the flood subsided;

‘Then Noah built an altar to the Lord , and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ‘

What Noah valued the most was not to find a place for his family to stay but to hurriedly find a location to build an altar. He took of every clean animal and bird and offered as burnt offerings to God. The method of offering to God was established in the time of Moses but after man sinned, God used the skin of animals to cover the shame of men. This also showed men how they can atone for their sins and the method of repentance before God. We can see that men had this concept when Abel and Cain sacrificed; men had this concept to make sacrifice for their sins.

Besides making sacrifices for their sins, the descendants of Seth also built altars to call on the name of the Lord. In Genesis 12:8 records that Abram went to the place where God wanted him to go;

‘And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord . ‘

There, he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Building altars was also to pray to God. This was how the people in those times became righteous before God.

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and God saw that he was righteous because he built altars to the Lord and called upon His name. He became someone justified before God.

In our lives, we must become righteous before God. We must receive baptism for the remission of our sins. In our lives of faith we must also often build these altars to call on the name of the Lord; that is our lives of prayers. Our prayers are akin to building altars and making sacrifices to God. Often while we’re praying, we also think of the areas we’ve let God down.

David in his psalms also say this. We read Psalm 19:12-13;

12 ‘Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.’

This is the prayer of David. He asked 2 things of God. Firstly, he asked God to cleanse him of his great faults. Secondly, he asked God to keep him back from presumptuous sins. This is the prayer he made towards God; one is secret faults and another is presumptuous sins. These are mistakes we’ve made that are hard to discover by ourselves. You may think to yourself, “I’m living a godly life and abiding by the words of God.” But we should reflect in prayers like David if we’ve these secret faults and presumptuous sins.

There was twice in David’s life when he made grave errors.

First was when he slept Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, and also caused Uriah his death so that the loyal Uriah died on the battlefield.

Secondly was when he made a census on the people. He asked Joab to make a census on his people and it took over 9 months for this number to be reported back to him. He later rebuked himself and knew that he did something wrong. These are the secret faults and presumptuous sins of his. He didn’t realise that he was committing this sin of adultery.

His conducting the census of the forces was also a presumptuous sin; he didn’t know he committed this error out of pride. He did it unknowingly.

To be righteous before God, we have to examine ourselves in our prayers; to find out our secret faults and if we’ve made any of these presumptuous sins. If we have these faults, we won’t be able to be righteous before God.

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord

He was a perfect man.

In Genesis 6:9;

‘This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ‘

Noah was perfect in his generation. Perfect means to have no faults. This word “perfect” appears most in Leviticus, and it means “without blemish”. It’s used in the context of making sacrifices to God to make sacrifices without blemish, spots and injuries. Such a sacrifice would be accepted by God.

God saw Noah as someone who had no such blemish, spot and imperfection. How did Noah become someone perfect before God? In our eyes, this would be something impossible; no matter how perfect someone is, they must have some kind of faults and imperfections.

Here mentions he was perfect in his generation. How were the people like in his generation? V11;

‘The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ‘

Noah was living in this environment full of sin and violence but his whole family still feared God and obey His commandments. This is not easy to do. In the incident of Cain and Abel we see that the environment was like this. The brothers had a mutual strife. They were born from the same mother but Cain killed his brother. But Cain didn’t think that he was wrong. When God asked him for his brother, he answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

He had done something wrong but didn’t find any fault in his doings. God caused him to not be able to come before Him anymore.

In that era, to live you had you live by your fist. The one with the strongest fist would be more reputable. The Bible records that these people were “mighty men of old, men of renown”. The people relied on their physical strength for people to submit to them.

This is like watching discovery channel; it’s the survival of the fittest. The stronger and fiercer animals would prey on the weaker animals. Those who are weak will be preyed on, “If I’m not more fierce and savage than the other party, I’ll definitely be eaten”. Such a society is a society that has lost control.

If in a society without policemen and law enforcement, would we be able to maintain our faith? It’s a very difficult environment to live in.

But Noah managed to be a perfect man in his generation. In this difficult environment, he still held on to his faith. His perfectness was that he still knew how to draw near to God. He didn’t commit sin to sin against God. We read 2 Samuel 22:22-25;

22 ‘For I have kept the ways of the Lord , And have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
25 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes.’

V24;

I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.

How was he blameless? He kept himself from his iniquity. How was he able to do so? In v22;

‘For I have kept the ways of the Lord , And have not wickedly departed from my God.

Because he kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God.

Noah was able to be perfect before God because he didn’t follow the people in their ways to commit wicked acts against God.

For us to be perfect in this generation is not difficult. If we keep ourselves from being wicked and don’t depart from God, we’ll be counted as perfect in our generation. This is something we can pursue.

Noah could walk with God.

Walking with God would be to continuously draw near to God. He had God in his life and he had faith in his life. He drew near to God and worshipped God.

How did he have God in his life? In the New Testament, Peter mentioned two things to be considered as walking with God. We read 1 Peter 3:20;

‘who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ‘

Noah walked with God. In his life, he did the things God wanted him to do.

“’who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah,” Before the flood was to come, God wanted Noah to build this ark. From the age of 500 he started this work until he was 600 years old. In the year he was 600 years old, the flood came. He lived 950 years. We can see that about a tenth of his life was made building this ark for the Lord. 1/10 of his life was spent doing the work God set for him.

At the end of our lives when we come before God, we can see how much of our time we spent for God. We often talk about giving tithes, and Noah truly offered a tithe of his life. The time he spent for God was full of meaning and value; and he received the benefit. His whole family because of this ark was able to escape the flood. Truly, the time we give to God will also allow us and our entire family to receive the grace of God.

Ephesians 5:16 tells us;

‘redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’

The last days are evil days. We must know how to make proper use of our times.

In Singapore, it is very convenient to throw rubbish. We just need to put the rubbish in rubbish bins and the trucks will come to collect them. The government has decided that comparing the time you spend to properly deal with rubbish to the time you spend to work, it is more beneficial to do work.

The question is always how we can use this limited resource of time to make a greater benefit. We can apply this in our lives of faith. In our limited time, how can we create greater benefits and value? We can invest this time in our careers but the same time can also be used to work for the church. It’s the same time spent but there’s a difference in the value and meaning. We must think, “In these last days, how can we redeem the time and make proper use of it?”

When our lives come to an end and we come before God, we can see how much percentage of our time we spent before God. Is it a tenth? Two tenth? Or nothing at all? This is how Noah spent his time for God.

In 2 Peter 2:5;

‘and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people , a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ‘

Before the flood destroyed the earth, God wanted Noah to preach the way of righteousness. At the same time he was building the ark, God wanted Noah to warn the earth of the upcoming flood. Here records, “This world was a world of the ungodly”. Meaning this world was not afraid of God and they didn’t esteem God. There was not much effect to Noah’s preaching and no one accepted it. But Noah held on to the commission to preach again. This is the work he did to continue walking with God.

In 2 Timothy 4:2;

‘Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ‘

This is the same situation as us; we have to preach the word in the world of the ungodly. We don’t know how many people will accept this gospel. Whether in season or out of season, we must preach.

It’s just like watching a Soccer match. In the first half, it feels like victory is already assured. It may seem difficult to make a comeback in the second half but the exciting part of the match is that you don’t know up to the last minute who will win. The table may turn even at the last minute.

We’re all Soccer players in the field; we must persevere to the end. Before the 90th minute is over, there is still a chance of victory. In the last days, we similarly also must persevere. Even if no one believes, we must continue.

Noah was able to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. We too can do so; to be a righteous man, to be a perfect man in our generation, and to walk with God.

May the Lord help us.